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That’s the question posed in a DVD produced by the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention ahead of Cooperative Program (CP) Sunday on April 22. That’s the day SBTC churches are asked to remind their congregations—or perhaps explain for the first time—how the CP makes worldwide ministry possible for the church of 15 members and the megachurch of 15,000 members.
In the feature video on the DVD—accessible at sbtexas.com/cp—viewers are asked to imagine:
• More seminary students training to take the gospel farther and wider,
• More missionaries to engage the remaining 3,800 unengaged and unreached peoples,
• More church planters to evangelize and plant among the 300-plus language groups that make Texas home, and amid an increasingly secular English-speaking population in Texas and across North America,
• More disaster relief volunteers to respond to natural and manmade emergencies with Christian compassion and a gospel witness.
“When you give, your church gives, and that money is gathered with thousands of other church gifts, and that enables the work of the gospel everywhere,” SBTC President Terry Turner, pastor of Mesquite Friendship Baptist Church, said on camera in explaining how the CP is working to engage the world’s 7 billion people.
With every dollar given through the CP, “My church plants churches, sends students to seminary, funds disaster relief and so much more,” Turner said. “Just imagine as you give to your church how the gospel is empowered through that gift.”
Since 1925, the Cooperative Program has been the shared funding mechanism of Southern Baptists, replacing a “societal” method of fund-raising that pitted otherwise kindred institutions against each other. While independently funded missionaries spend considerable time in fund-raising, SBC missionaries are able to focus on the gospel task exclusively.
With a brief narration by Turner and testimonies by church planters, pastors and seminarians, the four-minute video states the benefits of shared giving and funding.
Along with Turner, the video features brief messages from Rowlett church planter Shane Pruitt, Southwestern Seminary student Quincy Jones, SBTC Disaster Relief volunteer Dewey Watson, and pastors Joe Rivera of Grand Prairie, Tony Mathews of Garland, Walter Jackson from DeKalb and Jim Pritchard from Forney.
Jones, explaining that he came from an independent Bible church background, said he was amazed to learn that a seminary education for Southern Baptist students is roughly 50-60 percent lower than comparable schools because much of the cost is underwritten through CP.
In another video on the same DVD, Jones heaped further praise on the CP mechanism.
“And considering church planters and missionaries, that they don’t have to raise their own funding, they can go right to the field and they can go right to the business of reaching people for the sake of Christ, [it] is just awesome,” Jones said.
Pruitt, pastor of Connection Church, a 14-month-old congregation in Rowlett, lauds the SBTC for helping support 59 church plants in Texas last year, aided by CP.
“Imagine more churches being planted in the state of Texas, sufficient to preach the gospel in every community and every language in our state,” Pruitt said.
Pruitt, also featured in a separate video on the DVD, tells how Connection Church began 14 months ago with 31 people and now is averaging 350 attenders and preparing to move to three services. They have baptized 30 people.
“Your giving towards us and the support that we receive on a monthly basis has helped us to do great things here in our community,” Pruitt said. “We’ve been on three mission trips and we also give in to the Cooperative Program—mainly because we believe in it so much.
“So I just wanted to share with you the seed that you’re planting—we are seeing kingdom growth here in Rowlett, so thank you so much.”
Minister-Church Relations Director Tom Campbell added: “Cooperative Program Day gives churches an opportunity to help their members understand how they can literally be a part of reaching the world with the gospel. I encourage each church to take some time on April 22 to share about CP and how by giving through it, we can do so much more together. The SBTC can help with bulletin inserts, videos, and other resources.”
In addition to the DVD, Cooperative Program brochures are also available. To order materials, visit sbtexas.com/cp or contact Stephanie Harmon at sharmon@sbtexas.com or toll-free at 877-953-7282 (SBTC).
